Ask a Lebanese freelancer how a client abroad pays, or a shopkeeper how a sale is priced, and the conversation returns to dollars. Since the 2019 financial crisis, banking failure and the currency’s collapse have deepened Lebanon’s reliance on cash dollars. Dollar stablecoins could extend that reliance into digital form. Stablecoins may ease payments for people and businesses that cannot depend on Lebanese banks. But they could also deepen dollarisation, weaken domestic financial intermediation and move payment infrastructure onto foreign private networks. Lebanon therefore offers an important test: what happens when ... (full story)